AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thanks,” she said, pasting her smile onto her face. Nerves bubbled up in her stomach as she stood, and she pushed them back down again. It was going to be fine. Even her dad liked London, which was saying something. Her dad thoroughly enjoyed giving her boyfriends a hard time and playing overprotective father, but London had charmed him within the first hour of meeting him. That was important to her.
“I’ll get the mashed potatoes.” He gave her a grin as he closed the door for her and hurried to the trunk.
Her parents lived about an hour outside of Los Angeles, so it wasn’t cold even though it was November, but London had put on a ridiculous Thanksgiving sweater anyway. Juliet’s lips twitched with amusement as he opened the trunk of the car, his arms lifting up and showing off the full spread of turkey feathers. She had to admit, his enthusiasm about the holidays and the kind of confidence it took to wear that type of sweater was one of the things she really liked about him. The red, orange, yellow, and brown looked good on him too.
“What?” he asked, closing the trunk and cocking his head to the side as he looked at her, holding the tinfoil covered pan in front of him.
“You’re really cute sometimes.”
“Cute,” he scoffed, jokingly, though with a bit of an edge to it, like he wasn’t entirely joking but he was laughing it off anyway. “I’m not cute. I’m hot. Manly. Excessively good looking.”
“All of those things too,” she said, moving over to his side. He lifted his elbow so she could slide her hand into the crook of his arm, winking down at her as he did so. “But you’re still cute.”
Shaking his head, London rolled his eyes heavenward.
“Women.”
Juliet smiled and tried not to think about how if he’d been a Dom, she’d probably be put over his knee for reiterating that he was ‘cute’ after he’d corrected her. It was impossible to have everything in a relationship.
Her first relationship with a Dom, he’d wanted her to be a stay-at-home mom and move to the East Coast away from her own career and family. But the sex had been amazing. Her second attempt at starting something with a Dom… well, the fact that he was her stepbrother had been a major detractor, but she’d been willing to try. Unfortunately, he’d ghosted her after saying that it didn’t have to be one night.
So, she’d decided to date someone who wasn’t a Dom but still had that kind of bossy vibe. London fit the bill and he was into her, the real her. Sure, he didn’t know the subbie side of her, but considering he wanted the same things out of life as her, supported her career, and had called her the night she’d given him her number, she was okay with having to sacrifice something.
The sex was still good even if she missed kink.
Walking up the steps to the front door of the house, Juliet took a deep breath. London was great. And he was right. Her parents loved him. Bringing him to Thanksgiving was a natural step if they were getting serious and she just needed to suck it up and get past her nerves and the unsettling feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
Knowing it would be unlocked, Juliet reached for the door, but before her fingers could touch it, the knob turned and it opened. Expecting her Dad or Mona, her smile brightened before it froze in brittle shock as she met the green eyes of her goddamn, arrogant asshole, ghosted her after giving her the best sex of her life, fucking stepbrother.
He was fucking lucky she wasn’t the one holding the mashed potatoes because if he was, they’d be all over his face and that stupid turkey sweater he was wearing. Apparently, he and London had gone shopping at the same store. The sweaters weren’t exact matches —Orlando’s had fuzzy pom-poms on it —but they were pretty damn close.
Meeting her gaze, Orlando smiled before focusing on London.
“Hi there, you must be London. I’m Orlando, Juliet’s stepbrother.”
“Oh, great, hi! Yes, she’s mentioned you.” London lifted the mashed potatoes as if to demonstrate why he couldn’t shake Orlando’s hand. Juliet’s grip on him had tightened to the point where it was amazing he could raise his arm at all.
She’d mentioned Orlando once. Very briefly. In passing. Mostly to tell London that they would likely never meet because she and Orlando didn’t get along.
What the fuck was he doing here?
Brooke is going to shit herself when she gets here.
Since her family lived in Michigan, Brooke usually spent Christmas with them, but rather than traveling twice in two months she came to Thanksgiving with Juliet where she was treated as one of the cousins. Normally they drove together, but Brooke had declared she wasn’t going that early and that she’d show up to help at the normal time like everyone else because she didn’t want to miss her beauty sleep for no reason.
Well, this would have been a big fucking reason, if only they’d known.
“What are you doing here?” Juliet blurted out. Whatever, she didn’t see any reason to act like she was happy to see him.
“Celebrating Thanksgiving with my family of course,” Orlando replied as if she wasn’t three seconds away from beating his ass. And not in the kinky fun way. “Come on in, London.”
Because he was standing partway in their way, holding open the door, she and London couldn’t pass through together. Juliet’s fingers slipped from London’s arm as he moved forward, heading in first while she hung back because she wanted to be able to give Orlando the death glare he deserved without having her boyfriend wonderingwhy.
Something sparked in Orlando’s eyes when he met her gaze again, tugging at an invisible place deep in her belly, and she hated herself a little for that reaction. It wasn’t fair. Just because she’d been attracted to him since she first met him, the fact that he’d been a dick over the years, and then fuckingghostedher after saying that it didn’t have to be one night… Her body should have gotten the memo. No need to spin the block. He’d had his chance, he didn’t get another one.
“Juliet.”
Rather than answering him, Juliet turned up her nose and stalked by.
